I think it's unlikely that Hurlbert falls to 22 overall, but I believe he's the type of high-talent swing the Penguins should be taking.
He was teammates with Brunicke in the last half of the season so the Penguins should've gotten plenty of looks!
2026 Draft Profile: JP Hurlbert #2
68 GP | 42G-55A--97PTS
He is a dynamic, 6', 190-pound winger for the Kamloops Blazers. The WHL Rookie of the Year has no problem scoring and that won't change when he join the Michigan Wolverines in the fall!
Hurlbert will likely have to adjust his game to succeed at the NHL level but the tools are there.
I believe he will need work on not leaving the defensive zone early to try and gain and advantage on defenders, and his skating.
The Penguins have signed forward Oliver Okuliar to a one-year, two-way contract that runs through the 2026.27 campaign, worth $850,00 at the NHL level.
Okuliar was acquired from Florida on Saturday.
@Laurent_Voyer98@JFreshHockey Weren’t there zero defenseman taken in the 2025 draft who were under 6’ tall? Probably because teams consider that undersized.
@Bedsy4Hart@puckempire No. You’re missing the point, he’s not clowning the Penguins for it because they hired Kyle Dubas who has shown to be a great hire once he’s got his feet under him in Pittsburgh.
It’s not rocket science.
@Bedsy4Hart@puckempire The Penguins are still accumulating picks…It’s just weird that your reaction was “but but but Dubas”. I don’t even think poorly of Davidson, it’s just that you immediately tried to pull a “gotcha” by bringing Dubas into the conversation.
Okuliar, 26, had 15G-14A in 46GP with SHL-Skelleftea in 2025-26, and was dominant in their postseason run to an SHL championship this spring.
He had 6G-7A-13PTS in 15 SHL playoff games.
His six goals were tied-1st in SHL playoffs; The 13pts were 2nd most. @InsideAHLHockey
@Bedsy4Hart@puckempire He’s brought in Kindel, Chinakhov and also Zonnon + Horcoff. It’s not a big deal. You’re incredibly mad because you feel like Davidson is your god when Dubas is doing more than fine…
REPORT: The #Pens are finalizing a contract with recently acquired forward Oliver Okuliar, per Expressen
Okuliar will likely be with #WBSPens next season as all indications point to Okuliar leaving the final year of his SHL deal with Skelleftea
@InsideAHLHockey#AHLFreeAgency26
He will need to work on his defensive game, but per Jay McKee (Brantford's coach), “his practice habits are incredible”.
Dravecky could be a great option if he falls due to his height and lack of offensive production.
2026 Draft Profile: Vladimir Dravecky #29
58 GP | 9G-19A--28PTS
Vladimir Dravecky is a mobile, 5'11", 193-pound defenseman for the Guelph Storm. Despite being born in New Hampshire, he played for Slovak junior teams earlier in his career and now represents Czechia internationally.
Dravecky already has experience playing professional hockey as a teenager in the Extraliga and SHL. He was expected to show out a little more this year for Brantford, but playing behind Jiricek and Danford, he was mainly used on the third-pair and PP2.